In December last year when Shakey Graves dropped the details on his new album Can’t Wake Up, he took to Twitter and said “Next album. New sound. Sell your suspenders”. From the opening of ‘Counting Sheep’. It’s easy to hear that the powers of reinvention have been at play considerably over the past three years. Whilst previous releases have had that country back porch foot stompin’ brand of country folk, Can’t Wake Up is anything but.

Waves of reverb flush over guitar lines throughout the opening half of this record and no matter how much I try to drive it from my mind, for a moment I kept thinking that I was listening to an M Ward or Bahamas record. That isn’t bad by any stretch, just not expected at all. Going into listening to this album, I was expecting to hear a little foot stomping banjo that adorned his 2014 breakthrough album When The War Came, yet that ‘Old sound’ is nowhere to be found.

At first, it was a little disappointing to not hear that familiar twang but then again, Graves couldn’t release endless albums of banjo music. With a heavy pop partial commercial glimmer, these songs tick along in a release that is suitable for a dinner party soundtrack and one to pop on Sunday afternoon as the sun cascades through your lounge-room window.